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Entry and Early Career · National
What to Expect
from Your Prac:
A Realistic Guide for Education Students
How professional experience is assessed, what separates a hard prac from a failing one, and everything to organise before you arrive.
Information is general in nature. Assessment requirements, clearance fees, and financial support rates change over time. Always verify current requirements with your university and relevant state authority.
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What to Expect from Your Prac: A Realistic Guide for Education Students
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About this guide

Professional experience placements are where the gap between what universities say and what actually happens is widest. This guide covers what your supervising teacher is and isn't required to do, how the APST assessment works, what a difficult placement looks like versus a failing one, how to navigate value misalignment, what to organise before you arrive (including WWCC clearances for all 8 states), financial support available during prac, how to write reflective journals that work, and how to use the experience professionally afterwards.

Contents
What to Expect from Your Prac: A Realistic Guide for Education Students
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01
Professional Experience
How Professional Experience
Actually Works

Every accredited ITE degree requires a minimum number of professional experience days assessed against the APST. The final placement is assessed on a binary scale: Met or Not Met. There is no partial credit. A Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) is also required in the final year, assessed by your ITE provider separately.

Program Minimum days
Primary/secondary (Bachelor's)80 days across 4+ placements
Early childhood (Bachelor's)Up to 95 days
Master of Teaching65–70 days over 2 years

NSW students: from 1 August 2026, passing LANTITE is a prerequisite for Conditional accreditation. If a school has an urgent staffing need, the principal can apply to NESA for an extension. Already Conditionally accredited? You are not affected. [Source: NESA/NSW Government, 2025]

What to Expect from Your Prac: A Realistic Guide for Education Students
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02
Assessment
How Your Supervising Teacher
Assesses You

Assessment is conducted against the APST at the Graduate career stage: 7 standards, 37 descriptors. Evidence includes formal lesson observations, lesson plans, assessment strategies, reflective journals, and professional conduct.

What satisfactory performance looks like

Passing is about planning and sequencing learning across multiple lessons, managing behaviour consistently enough that learning can occur, responding to feedback and adjusting, keeping student safety central in practice, and engaging professionally with staff. The most common Not Met causes: persistent classroom management failure after coaching; inability to plan coherent lessons; refusal to act on feedback; unexplained absences; zero observable improvement across the entire placement.

A single poor lesson does not constitute failure. Multiple poor lessons with no visible adjustment, combined with resistance to feedback, typically does.

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03
Supervision
What Your Supervising Teacher
Is (and Isn't) Paid to Do

The Australian Higher Education Practice Teaching Supervision Award 1990 sets minimum rates. In Victoria (the most transparent jurisdiction), the confirmed 2025 rate is $36.80 per student per day. At a 20-day placement, that is approximately $736 total. [Source: VIC DoE PAL, January 2025]

Leading Teachers are excluded
In VIC and equivalent senior roles in other states, the supervisor may receive nothing unless the principal chooses to pay.
Payment can be waived
Entirely in writing if the teacher and principal agree — e.g. professional development time as an alternative.
Catholic & independent schools
Many operate under sector-specific enterprise agreements; some make no payment at all.
What this means
Quality of supervision is largely personal. If your supervisor is disengaged, your university coordinator is your actual support system.
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04
Assessment
Hard Prac vs. Failing Prac
A hard prac involves...
  • Very high-expectations supervisor with direct feedback
  • Challenging class with high behaviour needs
  • School culture at odds with your values
  • Poor personality match with supervisor
  • Exhaustion from the workload
A failing prac involves...
  • Repeated failure to demonstrate Graduate Standards after coaching
  • Professional conduct concerns
  • Formal documentation of concerns
  • At-risk plan you could not address
The formal sequence before a Not Met outcome
1
Concern raised

Supervising teacher raises concerns verbally or in a written observation report.

2
Coordinator notified

University professional experience coordinator is notified and involved.

3
At-risk action plan

Specific, observable targets to meet in a defined time are developed.

4
Not Met recorded

If the student cannot meet the plan, or for serious conduct breach, Not Met is recorded.

If worried, contact your university professional experience coordinator first — not your supervising teacher. Keep brief dated notes of what feedback you received and what you attempted in response.

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Preparation & Finance
Pre-Prac Admin and
Financial Support
Working with children clearances by state
State Check name Fee Processing
NSWWWCC (Working with Children Check)Free (volunteer)10+ days; 5-year validity
VICWorking with Children Check$130 (employee)Varies
QLDBlue CardFree (students)6–8 weeks. Apply early.
WAWorking with Children Check$11 (volunteer)Varies
SAChild-Related Employment ScreeningFree (volunteer)Varies
TASWorking with Vulnerable People$116.70Varies
ACTWorking with Vulnerable People (WWVP)Free (volunteer)Varies
NTOchre CardFree (volunteer)Varies

Apply 8–10 weeks before your placement. The QLD Blue Card alone takes 6–8 weeks. Do not leave clearances to the last week.

Commonwealth Prac Payment (CPP)

From 1 July 2025, eligible domestic students receive the CPP during mandatory placements: $338.60/week in 2026. Eligibility requires a Need to Work Test (worked 15+ hours/week in the 4 weeks before applying) and an Income Test (under ~$1,536/week before tax). Placement must average ≥30 hours/week. International students are not eligible. Apply through your higher education provider within 2 months of starting. [Source: Australian Government DoE, 2026]

State grants on top of CPP
State grants (select examples)
QLD Up to $5,000 — Teach QLD Prac Placement Grant (final year; QLD state schools only; ≥15 consecutive days). Beyond the Range Grant also up to $5,000 for rural/remote state schools.
VIC $100–$200/day — Pre-service Teacher Placement Grant for rural/regional VIC government schools ($150/day small rural mainstream; $100/day medium rural).
WA Up to ~$250/week — rural/remote grant. Verify at teaching.wa.edu.au.

Sources: Teach QLD 2026; VIC DoE 2026; Australian Government DoE 2026; NSW OCG 2025. Verify all fees and rates before acting — they change.

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Journals & After Prac
Reflective Journals and
Using the Experience Professionally
Reflective journal structure that works

Journals are not private. They are submitted to your university supervisor and may be shared with the school. Write honestly about your own practice only. Do not write about staff competence, school management, or school culture.

Each entry: (1) What did you attempt? (2) What happened (observable student response)? (3) What would you do differently? (4) Which APST descriptors does this connect to?

After prac: referee and resume
Within 48 hours: thank-you
Send a card or email. Be specific about one thing you learned. "Restructuring the exit ticket format changed how I planned subsequent lessons."
Maintaining the referee
Always ask before listing. Give 2 weeks' notice. Brief them on the role. Keep their personal contact details — school emails expire.

On your resume, list each placement as work experience: school name, suburb, sector, year levels and subjects, dates, and 2–3 outcome-focused lines. Keep a record of 4–5 specific teaching episodes for selection criteria responses.

Frequently asked questions

What if I fail prac?

Some universities allow one repeat placement; others exclude students who fail a final placement. Check your institution's professional experience policy. Every university has a formal appeals process.

What do I organise before placement?

Working with children clearance (8–10 weeks early); first aid HLTAID009 and HLTAID010 (4 weeks early); Asthma and Anaphylaxis training; university compliance requirements. NSW students: mandatory online DoE modules and Pre-service Teacher Registration Form.

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